FreeBSD on ThunderX2 update

[Jayachandran C.]

On Sun, Feb 17, 2019 at 4:30 PM Shawn Webb <shawn.webb at hardenedbsd.org> wrote:
>
> On Sun, Feb 17, 2019 at 04:17:34PM -0800, Jayachandran C. wrote:
> > Another set of changes needed for ThunderX2 support has been committed
> > over the past few weeks (thanks andrew@ for fixes and reviews). The
> > change were to: add IORT table support (r343853, r343856, r343860),
> > fix a crash seen with INVARIANTS off (r343875, r343876), and handle
> > more memory regions from the firmware (r343764).
> >
> > Also, Cavium has released a firmware update at support.cavium.com (for
> > Sabre reference platforms) that fixes the SATA controller
> > initialization issue. With all these, the 13-CURRENT should boot and
> > run fine on ThunderX2 - you just need to add 'options NUMA' to the
> > conf.
> >
> > A backport of the needed changes to 12-STABLE is available at:
> > https://github.com/jchandra-cavm/freebsd/commits/stable/12-tx2 . I
> > have been running this on my Sabre, and so far it has been stable
> > under stress. If you have access to a ThunderX2 board, let me know if
> > it works for you.
>
> I registered with Cavium's support site, but I never got the
> verification/approval email back from Cavium.
>
> Gigabyte's BIOS download page for their ThunderX2 system shows BIOS
> version of F16, not the latest F25 release.
>
> So, for HardenedBSD, we're not getting much more than radio silence.
>
> Perhaps I need to exercise a bit more patience. Is there any way to
> get access to the newer BIOS releases without having to wait for
> Gigabyte to update their end? Can you talk with Cavium support to get
> them to accept my registration?

Since this server is from Gigabyte, they will need to provide the
firmware image. The server platform is probably based on Cavium's
reference design (Sabre/Zabla) and Gigabyte is probably working with
AMI for the firmware.

It is worth putting pressure on Gigabyte to provide a firmware with
fixes.  I don't have access to the Gigabyte platform here to try it
out, but I think here maybe a potential workaround for the issue, I
have to spend some time to figure out that.

JC